


drink

by deandratb



Category: One Day at a Time (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Sobriety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-06-27 17:08:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19795279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deandratb/pseuds/deandratb
Summary: Penelope stops drinking for medical reasons, and bonds with Schneider in a new way.





	drink

“I never realized how boring it is,” Penelope confessed to Schneider in an exaggerated whisper on their side of the table.

“Huh?”

“Being the sober one at a dinner party. Watching other people drink, watching drunk people interact? When you’re not one of them, it’s so boring!”

He nudged her shoulder with his own. “You get used to it.”

“Really?” She thought that over, then shot him a suspicious look. “In a good way or a bad way?”

“Eh, a little of both. It can be entertaining, but you have to stay kind of detached or you’ll end up thinking about all the fun drinking you’re **not** doing.”

Penelope sighed, toying with the napkin in her lap. That was definitely what she had been doing–feeling sorry for herself. _If only she hadn’t needed to change antidepressants,_ she thought for the tenth time that night. _It was so much easier when she never thought about it._

“Until I had to stop,” she admitted, “I didn’t even realize how used to drinking I was.”

“It can creep up on you,” Schneider agreed.

He didn’t seem to be wallowing in self-pity, which made her feel even worse for being such a wimp. Schneider had just gotten his 6-month chip last week, and here he was acting as though the alcohol on all sides didn’t even bother him.

“How do you do it?” Penelope asked, not in a whisper this time.

The others were too firmly in party mode to be listening to them, anyway. Her _Mami_ was dancing with Alex in the kitchen, and Elena was deep in nerdy conversation with a tipsy Dr. Berkowitz. She and Schneider were their own little island of sobriety, naturally excluded. 

He could have laughed the question off, answered with a shrug and that easygoing grin that defined him most of the time. But since his relapse, Schneider had been a little less easygoing, more serious. He didn’t pretend to misunderstand her question, and he didn’t hesitate before answering.

In fact, his answer came so quickly that she knew he’d already been thinking about it. Maybe while she was shredding her third paper napkin.

“I remember what happens. If I slip up. When I think about drinking, when I miss it...I imagine what comes next. That might not help you as much,” he added, “but it’s enough for me. After last time.”

There was so much weighing down his words, so much in the pauses between words and the silence that followed. Penelope could feel it as if the memories were a physical presence in the room. 

Schneider drinking again would be a mess. Would be dangerous. 

_Could lose them._

The flickers of expression in his eyes, though his face remained placid, told Penelope he knew exactly what it would mean--for all of them--if he started drinking again. 

She reached over and slid her hand into his, under the table. The way his eyes flew to hers, wide and a little confused, made her smile. 

“That does help,” she told him. “It helps a lot.”

 _You’re okay,_ she added silently. _We’re right here. Just keep trying. We got you._

Schneider squeezed her hand under the table, and she tried his method on herself as she squeezed back. 

_If she drank, she could find herself sick, or suicidal. Worse, she would be setting a terrible example for her kids, teaching them that what feels good in the moment is worth taking dangerous risks for._

She refused to be that kind of mom, that kind of person. And the man who was still holding her hand and pretending he wasn’t sneaking glances at her to understand why she hadn’t let go…he was the best example for all of them. 

If Schneider could fight his demons, she could make the healthy choice.

 _Besides,_ she thought, _there were worse things than being the sober one at a dinner party._

Especially a dinner party with Schneider beside her, sober too.

**Author's Note:**

> #78 in my 100 Stories Challenge for ODAAT. Prompt list [here](https://actuallylorelaigilmore.tumblr.com/post/186061589290/because-i-needed-a-challenge-to-get-me-back-into).


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